Monday, May 12, 1997

The trial of Jean Paul Akayesu, accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in 1994, resumes at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda in Tanzania. The case has been adjourned since March 7.

Russian Defense Minister Igor Rodionov is scheduled to visit Washington for talks with senior U.S. officials.

Britain's Prince Charles is scheduled to visits Wiesbaden, Germany, organic farms and shops to find out about how their products are processed and marketed to increase competitiveness.

Japan's Princess Sayako visits France after a visit to the Netherlands.

On the horizon

On Tuesday, May 13, the 38th annual Clio advertising awards will be presented in New York.

On Wednesday, May 14, French President Jacques Chirac visits China.

On Thursday, May 15, the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for launch on a mission to the Russian Mir space station.

On Friday, May 16, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari follows up a visit to South Africa with a stop in Tanzania.

On Saturday, May 17, Hong Kong's Governor is scheduled to visit London to brief Britain's Labour government on the pre-handover situation.

On this day

In 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated the French at Oporto, forcing them to retreat from Portugal.

In 1870, Manitoba was purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company by the Dominion of Canada and made a province.

In 1888, Britain established protectorates over North Borneo and Brunei.

In 1926, Norwegian Roald Amundsen, Italian Umberto Nobile and American Lincoln Ellsworth crossed the North Pole in an airship.

In 1926, Jozef Pilsudski led a successful military coup against the government in Poland.

In 1937, King George VI of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London. The coronation procession was broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation in its first outside broadcast.

In 1943, in World War II, all organized Axis resistance in Tunisia ended and the German commander in North Africa, General von Arnim, surrendered.

In 1949, the Russian blockade of Berlin officially ended after 11 months with a food convoy driving into the city.

In 1962, France and independent French-speaking West African states initialed an agreement setting up a West African Monetary Union.

In 1975, President Ford ordered the U.S. aircraft carrier Coral Sea into the Gulf of Thailand after the Cambodian navy seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez.

In 1989, retired British pilot Jack Mann was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists in Beirut. He was the oldest of the Westerners held hostage in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war.

In 1993, Franco Nobili, the head of Italy's biggest state firm and Europe's second largest company, IRI, was arrested in Rome after a 15-month corruption investigation.

In 1994, a token force of Palestinian police crossed the Jordan River in preparation for the end of 27 years of Israeli military rule in a West Bank enclave around Jericho.

Newslink

She didn't want any hoopla about her 90th birthday. But who could forget the legendary Katharine Hepburn in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?," "The Philadelphia Story" or "A Long Days Journey Into Night?" To learn more about the actress, click here.